


Free as a Bird

by ReptileRuler



Category: Spies In Disguise (2019)
Genre: Character Study?, Dreaming, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReptileRuler/pseuds/ReptileRuler
Summary: Lance Sterling dreams of flying.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 52





	Free as a Bird

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying to allow myself to post stories shorter than 1000 words.   
> Nothing really happens here but hey, I explored the Thing i wanted to explore (Which is what if Lance dreams about flying) so it counts as a success!

Lance Sterling dreams of flying.  
  
His first night after the whole pigeon-thing, it’s a nightmare. Walter is falling to his death and Lance cannot get there in time, he’s too slow, he can’t work his wings right, and when he tried to go faster the distance between them stretches out and Walter is further away than ever. They both fall to their death because he can’t figure out the whole flying thing.  
  
He wakes up, and he thinks, well that sucked.  
  
Being a pigeon, being able to fly, had been the thing that allowed him to save Walter, but he still takes a moment to lament over how horrible that ordeal had been. It had been too close. If hadn’t figured out the flying thing right then, someone he cared for could have died.  
  
Shaking himself out of those thoughts, he gets up, feeds the flock, and goes to work. The nightmares will pass, they always do.  
  
-  
  
It’s only a few weeks later when his dreams have turned… different.  
  
Now he’s perched on top of a building. The sun rises over the city, painting everything in warm yellow hues. A flock of pigeons take off from the building, and he’s among them. They fly through the sky, maneuvering between houses and skyscrapers as though the flock is all one unit.  
  
The wind sweeps across his wings and sings in his ears. He’s free, more so than he’s ever been, even when flying solo for the agency and doing everything his way. Every beat of his wings feels like a thrum in his body, invigorating, addictive.  
  
They fly higher and turn toward the rising sun. As they speed up, laughter bubbles up from Lance’s chest and he laughs loudly while the brightness of the sun engulfs him.  
  
  
  
  
Every night is the same, almost. Lance flies through New York City, or he flies over the Atlantic Ocean, or he’s above the treetops of the Amazon Rainforest. It depends on where in the world work has placed him - being a spy and all he’s more than used to travelling. He takes out bad guys during the day, and at the night he flies over the places he visited when he was awake.   
  
“Y’know, flying is the 37th most common thing to dream about”, Walter says one day, about something or other they were talking about over lunch.  
  
“Is it now?”  
  
“Yup. Though falling is on place 18, which suggests that...”  
  
And he keeps going. Lance thinks about that, wonders what it means if he dreams about flying every single night.  
  
It’s funny - he doesn’t want to be a bird again. He was small and fragile and he had felt useless, and while there were lessons he needed to learn, he certainly doesn’t want to relive any of it. No sir.   
  
And he only flew once. In a panicked attempt to save his friend, no less, so it doesn’t make sense that every night from then on he has the same type of dream. He dreams that he’s a pigeon again, and he dreams of flying.  
  
One night he’s flying over Stockholm, and it’s raining as it had been that day when they arrested a master villain hiding, of all places, in the archipelago outside the city. It had been damp and cold, and Lance had struggled to keep the mobility in his fingers to use Walter’s latest array of “weapons”.  
  
In the dream, though, Lance doesn’t need to worry about cold fingers. His waterproof feathers keep him nice and toasty, and after circling the town a few times, he perches on a tree branch and fluffs himself up. There he watches the pale sun rise, fighting to shine through the gray layer of clouds covering the sky.  
  
A pillow hits him in the face and Lance wakes up.  
  
“You gotta get up if you wanna catch the breakfast buffet”, Walter reminds him, speaking around a toothbrush in his mouth. They’re still in Sweden, spending the night at a hotel before moving on to their next mission.  
  
“What time is- shit, why didn’t you wake me, Walter?!” Lance exclaims and scrambles to get out of bed.  
  
“Aw, I couldn’t. You always look so happy when you’re sleeping!”  
  
“Really?” He mumbles while putting on his socks and reaching for his suit pants.  
  
“You’re always smiling. You must have some good dreams. What are they about?” Walter sits down and grins sideways at him, “Are they about Marcy?”  
  
“About Kappel- No! Kiddo, what gives?!”  
  
“You just strike me as someone who dreams about ladiesss”, Walter nods knowingly. Lance just shakes his head at him.  
  
“Don’t say it like that. And I sure don’t.”  
  
“What are they about then?”  
  
Lance genuinely considers telling him about the dreaming. If he does then Walter won’t shut up about pigeons for the next day at least. It was mildly interesting the first time the young adult had gotten carried away about his favorite animal, less so the other times. Lance knows more about birds than he ever thought he would.  
  
“Hey, why don’t you keep guessing and you might get it right?” He says instead.  
  
“Buy me ice cream when I do”, Walter says cheekily, but his face glows at the challenge.  
  
“Sure, sure”, he mumbles, about ready to run to the breakfast buffet before it closes.  
  
As an afterthought, he turns to Walter and confirms, a warm smile grazing his features as he remembers his dreams, “But yes, they are very good dreams.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, please tell me what you thought <3


End file.
